Pakistan integrating scientific climate information into development priorities

PRC striving for change to create more resilient communities

Islamabad

Pakistan has enacted several pieces of national policy initiatives in the areas of forestry, energy conservation, disaster management, and renewable energy development, among others. These policies integrate scientific climate information into development priorities.

Minister for climate change Zahid Hamid shared this information Friday while speaking at a national conference on ‘Integrating SDGs and Climate Change for Resilient Pakistan,’ organised by Pakistan Red Crescent (PRC).

According to Zahid Hamid, “Climate change is affecting every sector of Pakistan, be it agriculture, industry or exports. Pakistan lost more than $2 billion due to extreme weather events. I appreciate PRC and IFRC for organising this event and hope that Pakistan Coalition for Resilience will be a huge success,”

PRC Chairman Dr Saeed Elahi said, PRC is on the frontline when it comes to disasters and recognizes the urgent need to better manage the rising risk of extreme events through better early warning, better disaster relief and risk reduction and climate-smart programmes for healthcare, water, sanitation and food security.

Dr. Saeed said, in Pakistan, disaster risks such as unplanned urbanization, weak enforcement, unchecked construction in flood plains, expansion of economic activities in hazard prone area, water resource mismanagement, land degradation, desertification, environmental degradation and climate change have further increased vulnerabilities.

In order to address these challenges, PRC, in line with the IFRC’s transformative ‘One Billion Coalition for Resilience’ initiative invites everyone to be agents of change to create more resilient communities and transform the humanitarian system seeking ever-greater resources every year to save more lives.

“Through this conference, we aim to empower key stakeholders including policymakers to explore how best policies and strategies can serve as vehicle for the successful implementation of the SDGs; Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction; and the Paris Agreement. The expected outcome is to have a clearer and deeper understanding on how to ensure that climate information across different timescales are taken into consideration in our policies, programmes and projects and contribute to the establishment of healthy, safe, resilient and more prosperous communities in Pakistan,” Dr. Saeed added.

Ali Taqueer Sheikh, CEO of Lead Pakistan, IFRC Climate Center Technical Advisor Donna D Lagmedo, former governor State Bank Dr. Ishrat Hussain, DG Met Dr. Ghulam Rasool, chairman Water Resources Council Dr. Muhammad Asharaf, climate change expert Shafqat Munir and others also spoke on the occasion.